Back in May when I asked what my role should be here in the HCII as Professor of The Practice, I was told to define it myself. Which I’ve more or less done since then, trying to position myself as a bridge between industry and academia. This means a couple of things, practically: helping students connect with companies, helping connect companies to the HCII for our capstone projects, recruiting adjuncts from the community to teach classes, and lastly bringing some of what we’re working on to industry and visa versa. Bringing what the industry is doing to us helps the faculty when making or updating the curriculum, so our students get the best blend of both worlds, especially in the core (studio) classes. And showing what we’re doing helps increase the reputation of the department, so we get great student applicants, grants, partnerships, and new faculty. Not to mention helping the industry and ergo the world!
In addition to the book I’m working on, I got my first chance to try out this ambassador role at my first conference since February 2020 at UX Y’All, where I was the closing keynote speaker. My talk was called “AI by Design” and it introduced a lot of the themes we’re getting into in the book.
I had a lot of (unfounded) fear that what I was going to tell them was stupid or obvious, but the response I got from attendees afterward was anything but that, so I was relieved. I was really nervous going onstage, after three years of being out of practice (except for being “on stage” in the classroom, which is sort of a different thing). I have a fear of being out of touch or irrelevant or (gasp) boring, and here I was being the closing keynote with tons of internal and external pressure.
I think it went well, and I hope attendees enjoyed it and the organizers were happy. After a few minutes on stage, I was able to relax and remember I can do this—that I’ve done it dozens of times—and that while I’m definitely not the most polished speaker or the most charismatic, I try to have interesting things to say and say them in an interesting way. And this talk is ripe for this moment in time.
I’m giving this talk again at CanUX in November, along with a half-day workshop. The workshop is already sold out (!!!) but conference tickets are available. And hey, if you want me to speak at your conference on this, get in touch. Always Be Closing.